Scout Force (20 page)

      
As he lay in his bunk, he thought back to when he told the captain his abbreviated tale of how he won his Joint Meritorious Service Medal.
 
There was a good deal more to the story than he had told the captain.
 
Kelly remembered it quite well.

* * * * *

Kelly remembered sitting in his cockpit; his instrument lights were dimmed to a minimal glow.
 
He let his eyes adjust to space’s velvet blackness.
 
He stared out his screen and saw millions of stars, a nebula or two, and over a dozen far galaxies.
 
His new fighter’s sensors watched the close space around the ship to warn of any objects near him.
 
He had programmed his computer with a woman’s voice just slightly older than Kelly.
 
Wanda, as he had chosen to call her, spoke to him only when she had information he needed to hear.
 
He instructed her as to just what he did and did not want to hear.

      
The artificial intelligence program did an uncanny job of making Wanda appear to be a thinking reasoning person, not just a disembodied voice.
 
He thought he even detected a faint petulance when he corrected her for being too talkative.

      
As his eyes adjusted, he slowly moved the fighter ahead.
 
He was on free flight, 200 kilometers from the Fleet.
 
He had successfully checked out on the F-53 and had been granted an opportunity for free flight in open space.
 
Kelly gradually increased the speed until he was at 50% power.
 
The distance from the fleet was progressing dramatically.
 
He worked the fighter through a series of two and three G turns, climbs, and dives.
 
The seat automatically gripped and released his legs to keep him from blacking out.
 
It didn’t take Kelly very long to feel the difference between the F-53 and the trainers he had flown before.

      
After he got the feel for the ship in turns, dives, and climbs, he tried some quick spin rolls without losing any forward momentum.
 
The F-53 spun on its axis very quickly.
 
The computer could spin the ship and then stop with the front pointing precisely along his back track.
 
This was a handy move if you had an enemy on your tail and couldn’t shake them.
 
It was risky and had to be done almost instantaneously or the tailing bad guy would realize what you were doing and put a missile into your cockpit.

      
Kelly brought the ship to a dead stop and said, “Wanda.”

      
“Yes, Kelly, what can I do for you?”

      
“Wanda, take me back over the track I just flew, matching my maneuvers as closely as you can.”

      
“Kelly, would you like me to do the maneuvers in reverse or forward of what we just completed?”

      
“Forward back to where I started.
 
Can you do that?”

      
“Yes, Kelly, I can.
 
Would you put your hands on your knees and away from the control stick?
 
Good, hang on.”

      
The ship took off and the computer matched the maneuvers Kelly had completed almost exactly as Kelly had done.
 
He noticed that the turns were not as crisply done as he had done, but were well within the range.
 
As the ship reached the starting point, it executed a perfect spin roll and braked to a stop.

      
“How did I do, Kelly?”

      
“You did very well, Wanda.
 
I did notice that you did not do the turns as crisply as I had, but your response was acceptable.”

      
“I did not do the turns as crisply as you, because I knew the exact point in space to make the turn and purposely softened the turns so as not to discomfort you too much.”

      
“Thank you, Wanda, but in the future if I ask you to do something as I did, you are to do it as close to exactly as I did as possible.”

      
“As you wish, Kelly, you are the boss.
 
Kelly, there is another F-53 approaching from below and behind.
 
The IFF is turned off, but I can tell from the way it is flown that it is 1LT Shappelle.”

      
Kelly took over the controls, fired up his firing simulator, and did a snap spin to face directly at Angie’s approaching fighter.

      
“Hello, Angie, state your intentions or I’ll send a mini-seeker your way.”

      
“Damn, you’re quick.
 
Thought I was going to sneak up on you.”

      
“Not a chance. Wanda saw you coming a long way off.”

      
“Who is Wanda?”

      
“She’s my ship mate, literally.”

      
“Oh, I see.
 
Getting acquainted with your ship’s computer, are you?”

      
“Yes, and she’s doing pretty well.
 
She’ll do better once she stops worrying that she might hurt me.”

      
“Kelly, come over here and set up in the wingman position.
 
Let’s do some formation flying for a bit, unless you need some more solo flying.”

      
Kelly fired his thrusters and assumed the echelon right position, behind and to the right of Angie’s fighter.

      
“Now, try and keep up with me.”

      
Angie took off and Kelly followed, maintaining a perfect two-ship distance.
 
They would fly closer in combat, but two-ship distance was as close as non-combat regulations allowed.
 
Angie ran through a series of rolls, loops, climbs, and dives.
 
She did some retro fire flips and some corkscrew rolls.
 
She leveled out and executed a max-G burn.

      
Kelly thumbed off his communicator and said, “Wanda, how did you know it was LT Shappelle sneaking up on me?”

      
“Kelly, I have access to all the information stored in the Bolivar’s databanks.
 
Even though to you I was only initiated yesterday, I have a memory as long as the Bolivar’s.
 
LT Shappelle has a distinct flying style, as do you, so I recognized it.”

      
“Thank you, Wanda.
 
That’s good info to have.”

      
Kelly flipped his communicator back to hot.
 
“Angie, are we going to start flying anytime soon?”

      
“Okay, smart guy, keep up with this.”

      
Kelly did an outside roll away from Kelly, which caught him a little off guard, but he snap rolled to keep up with her.
 
She executed a complicated set of rolls, loops, dives, and corkscrews.
 
Kelly stayed right with her.
 
She went into a tight inside loop and Kelly stayed with her.
 
She started tightening the loop and Kelly started to feel the G-forces increase.

      
“Wanda, if I black out, break away from Angie’s ship for me.”

      
“Of course, Kelly, I would have done that anyway.”

      
“Thank you, Wanda.”

      
The loop got tighter still.
 
Kelly stayed right with her.
 
Angie surprised him by snap rolling away to the left and flying away at a 90-degree angle from the previous loop.
 
Kelly recovered and quickly got back in formation with her.

      
“That was a good one.
 
I’ll have to remember that one.”

      
“I thought you might like that one.
 
You know, now I know who you are.”

      
“Oh?
 
Who am I?”

      
“You're that snot-nosed junior classmen that shot my ass out of space in fighter school.
 
You know, I took a lot of ribbing for that.”

      
“What can I say?
 
You flew in front of me and I shot you.”

      
“How about let’s head back to the Bolivar.
 
I think we’ve had enough of a workout for now.
 
Follow me.
 
Let’s see how well you land.”

      
Kelly followed her back to the Bolivar landing bay and the two of them executed a perfect two-ship formation landing.
 
They taxied into their parking spots and powered down their ships.
 
The crew chiefs came over and helped them out of their ships.

      
The Carrier Fighter Wing Commander was waiting for them.

      
“Lieutenants, that was some pretty good flying out there.
 
How long have you two been flying together?”

      
Angie looked a little sheepish and said, “Uh, that was the first time we’ve flown together, sir.”

      
“It was?
 
Then that was pretty amazing that you two flew that well out there.
 
Good job, keep it up.”
 
The commander turned and walked away from two very amazed lieutenants.

      
As the shock wore off Angie said, “Come on, let’s eat.
 
I’m starved.
 
Snap rolls and tight loops make me hungry.”

      
Kelly walked with her to the dining facility, where the two filled their trays and wolfed down a major lunch.
 
Other pilots stared and made sure to keep their hands away from the hungry pilots’ mouths.
 
As they finished up, CPT Willis, their flight leader, came over and sat down with them.

      
“Are you two about through?
 
You’re scaring the other pilots.”

      
“Almost, ma’am.
 
Don’t worry, we won’t lick the plates.”

      
CPT Willis laughed at that and said, “I can see you two are going to be a piece of work.
 
Just don’t get too cocky.
 
There are scores of other pilots that would just love to burst your bubbles.
 
It won’t be long before they find out about the CFW commander’s comments and they’ll be gunning for you.
 
Watch out.”

      
Kelly and Angie looked at each other.
 
Kelly said, “You’ve already heard what the CFW said?”

      
“Oh, yes, the word got back to us very quickly.
 
The CFW called the Squadron Commander and he called me.
 
I came to find you.
 
I was a little worried when I saw you two eating.
 
I made sure as I came up not to startle you or to get between you and your food.
 
If you’re done, let’s go to the briefing room for your debriefing.”

      
The two got up, carried their trays to the re-processor, and followed CPT Willis to the briefing room.

      
LTC Matthews and the squadron exec were waiting.

      
“Well, here are our star pilots now,” began the CO, “Come in and sit down, please.”

      
The two cast each other sidelong glances, wondered what they were being set up for, and sat down.

      
“You two really impressed the CFW.
 
What did you two do out there?”

      
Angie spoke first. “Sir, we were just practicing formation flying.
 
We were pushing the envelope, but I don’t think we did anything all that spectacular.”

      
Kelly spoke up.
 
“Sir, we were pushing it pretty hard, but we were well within the safety limits of the ships. You can review the flight tapes if you need confirmation.”

      
“Relax, you two.
 
This is not a dressing down.
 
You aren’t in trouble.
 
The CFW just wanted us to know that you two flew like you had been flying together for years.
 
When he found out you two had just been paired up he wanted to let me know that, whatever I was doing to train my folks, I should keep it up.”

      
Broad smiles flashed onto their faces.

      
“You had us worried, sir,” said Angie. “We thought we were in hack.”

      
“No, you aren’t in trouble.
 
We want to review your flight logs and the Bolivar sensor logs to see exactly what the CFW saw that was so impressive.”

They called up the flight and Bolivar logs on the holographic briefing table.
 
It showed the flight of the two fighters as Angie attempted to shake Kelly from his wingman position.
 
Kelly was amazed at Angie’s flying ability and she by Kelly’s ability to stay up with her.
 
He never got further than three ship’s width’s away from her the entire flight.
 
LTC Samuels and CPT Willis also appeared to be impressed.